At Deutsche Schule Melbourne (DSM), Melbourne's only fully bilingual German–English primary school with a dual curriculum, we believe families deserve a clear, honest and holistic picture of their children's progress.
Biliteracy is not acquired incidentally, nor is it developed in a linear way. It requires commitment, effort, resilience, and curiosity — and we are proud of every DSM student on that journey. Standardised assessments like NAPLAN and the Thüringer Kompetenztest are just some of the tools available to measure that progress, and understanding them in context makes all the difference.
For most primary schools, standardised testing allows for a relatively direct comparison between students. The tests presuppose comparable curricula and an environment in which the language of the test is the dominant language of the school. For a bilingual school with a dual curriculum like DSM, the context is different.
Across the early years at DSM, around 70% of instruction is delivered in German with the remaining 30% being delivered in English in dedicated literacy lessons. This allows our students to develop strong academic foundations in German while building their literacy skills in both languages simultaneously. This means that by Year 3, our students have had significantly less formal English instructional time than peers at a monolingual school but have developed literacy skills across two languages. The two key tools we use assess these languages in isolation and are benchmarked against environments where the language of the test is the dominant language of the school and its environment.
NAPLAN assesses English literacy and numeracy at a single point in time. Against this backdrop, we are proud to have a nearly 100% participation rate, of which around 80% of our students meet or exceed the national standard, achieving a rating of Strong or Exceeding, with Numeracy and Reading having consistently high results. Of the remaining students, the vast majority are rated as Developing, meaning they have the foundational skills and, with continued support, will continue to progress. This reflects both their adaptability and the strength of their learning foundation across languages.
A broader perspective of bilingual progress emerges in Years 4 and 6, when DSM students also sit the Thüringer Kompetenztest. This a standardised assessment used across schools in Germany to measure German literacy and numeracy. Unlike NAPLAN, the Thüringer Kompetenztest is not compulsory, meaning that schools must opt in. Additionally, the Thüringer Kompetenztest does not give individual results but takes various statistical measures, such as average performance, and uses them to compare results across the classes who have participated. Year after year, DSM students achieve strong results against these benchmarks, with our scores being consistently higher in Mathematics than the overall average and on par in literacy.
At the same time, it is important to recognise what standardised testing like NAPLAN and the Thüringer Kompetenztest does not capture. These assessments measure performance in one language at a single point in time. They are not designed to reflect the full scope of bilingual development, nor the cumulative cognitive and linguistic advantages of sustained biliteracy. Furthermore, each comes with the caveat that otherwise capable students can have a bad day. This is why a range of assessments, both standardised and informal, are used to create a more reliable and holistic picture of our students’ development. Additionally, as a small school, year-to-year variation is natural. Cohort size means individual results can have a greater impact on aggregated outcomes, leading to more visible fluctuations than in larger schools. This is important to consider when comparing annual DSM data with state or national averages. In these instances, it can be more helpful to look at long-term trends.
Research consistently shows that second-language acquisition is not linear. In the early stages, progress may seem gradual as learning is distributed across two languages. Over time, however, language development typically accelerates, with skills, vocabulary, and understanding transferring between languages. As a result, many of the deeper academic and cognitive benefits of bilingual education become more apparent later, beyond the early assessment windows captured by NAPLAN and the Thüringer Kompetenztest. This is borne out by the improvement of results from Year 3 to Year 5 relative to the state and national cohorts.
A strong body of research indicates that bilingual education does not limit academic achievement and can enhance it over time.
At DSM, this is reflected in students’ outcomes across both languages, their performance in international assessments, and the broader cognitive and intercultural benefits of bilingual learning.
Developing strong English literacy remains a clear priority, alongside advanced academic German. Our students are not choosing between two languages — they are building both. This dual achievement — age-appropriate academic proficiency in two languages, benchmarked against both German and Australian monolingual standards — is a combination achieved by relatively few schools worldwide.
Results from large-scale standardised testing are reviewed annually by our teaching and leadership team. These are used to identify areas for improvement and inform decision-making in a range of areas including curriculum planning, resource allocation and support strategies.
This sits within a broader assessment framework that includes classroom-based evidence, bilingual benchmarks, international comparisons, and long-term learning outcomes. Results from each assessment are used to create a more robust picture of student capability and achievement. No tool is ever used in isolation.
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